Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice
Author's Note: You know what helps you writing? Not having Internet that functions properly. It's been going on and off all week and then the day I finished this chapter it wasn't on at all. Lots of writing happened. Fun fact, my Internet went out the day after I had course selection for university. I feel like throwing up thinking about the possibility of my Internet going out that day instead. Uuuuuugh. Of course, when I finish this and when I post this will be super far apart. I hate my Internet server at the moment. (Also somewhere in the process of this chapter I turned 20. Gross.)
Wally and Artemis were lying on their stomachs as they gazed down into the digging site. They rested on the top of a hill a fair distance away using binoculars to watch what was happening. They had been there an hour since being separated from the rest of the team and they had nothing to show for it. Wally lowered his binoculars and rubbed his face.
"I hate reconnaissance missions. I hate the desert. I hate that we don't know where our friends are," he muttered before getting back to watching the dig site.
"That's why I wanted to go find our friends. But no, they would totally be here so we just had to go," Artemis said now glaring at him. "Seriously, we're getting nothing."
"Yeah I realized that. Look, let's just wait another hour then go look, does that sound good?" the ginger asked, returning her gaze. "Or do you want to run off on your own again? It'd give the bad guys a chance to hurt me. Bet you'd love that."
The girl rolled her eyes at him and went back to watching the scene below them. Wally turned his attention back as well and they lay there in silence. Minutes ticked by and every single one put the ginger more on edge. They hadn't risked trying to radio their group in case that put them all in danger again, but the not knowing was more stress than he needed.
"Wally," Artemis said after awhile, placing her binoculars down. He followed suit, turning his head to her. "What's your problem with me? I mean, sometimes we're totally fine but other times I feel like you actually hate me."
"Yeah, well, same goes for you," he answered, darting his eyes away from her.
"Really? We're going to play that game, because I'll win. I have a sister, I'll definitely win this," she said, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "I only acted that way because of you. I only ever started with it all when it was a joke. You're the one who starts off with just being plain rude."
Wally frowned and turned away from her and onto his back. He stared up at the night sky trying to grab hold of his thoughts. He felt closer to the stars at the moment than to what he wanted to say. Well, some of what he wanted to say. Dick had mostly likely planted some of the thoughts zipping around his mind, causing him more stress than necessary. Thoughts of things he wanted to confess to the girl next to him, and there was no chance he risked breathing air into them. Sighing, he looked over to her.
"Look, I don't really have a problem with you. It's just… It felt like you were a replacement…" he finally said.
"For Roy? The ex-agent guy?" she asked, resting her head on her hand. Her eyes started searching his for answers making him blink. "I kind of am though, right? That's why the Agency sent me. To fill in the whole he left."
"No, not Roy, well yeah for Roy, but more for me. I don't know. It just felt like the Agency was once again reminding me that I'm only here because they allow me to tag along and to never expect to be more," Wally said quietly. He looked back up at the sky, shrugging awkwardly. "I felt threatened, I guess. It's dumb, I mean I was never an important player, but I thought maybe I'd have a shot at be one for once."
"Oh…" Artemis whispered. He could hear her shift where she was lying. He glanced to see her now on her back as well. "Well, I definitely think you're important to the team. I mean, who else will break all our falls?"
Wally laughed and reached over to bump her shoulder with his cast, "Thanks. So, should we get back to work? Imagine if Dick walked in on this. I shudder at the thought."
They both laughed and turned back around. They went back to looking through their binoculars. They didn't talk anymore but the air around them was no longer filled with tension. They watched the scene below in comfortable silence. Minutes went by and they saw nothing more than the workers continuing their digging. Wally was about to give up when Artemis gasped.
"What is it?" he asked unsure of where to look, at her or at the dig.
"Lex is there, with someone else," she whispered, as if afraid the people below would be able to hear her. "Look, over by the tent. I don't recognize the man, but that's definitely Lex Luthor with him."
Wally turned his vision to where the girl pointed and frowned. She was right about Luthor being there. The other man, very tall and large scars across his face, was a mystery to him as well. Even so, the ginger felt like he had seen him somewhere before but couldn't place his finger on it. He tried to focus the binoculars to get a closer look.
The two teens watched the men talk, both wishing they had super hearing. Whatever was being discussed seemed to be extremely important. They had watching the men talk to each other for a while when the mystery man stepped into the tent. Moments later he returned with a brief case in hand. Smiling, Luthor accepted it and they shook hands.
Wally placed his hand on Artemis' shoulder and gestured for them to move away. Slowly, the two of them inched away from the edge. Once they knew they were out of sight completely, they stood up.
"We need to go find the others now. Whatever that guy gave Luthor can't be good," the girl said as she put her binoculars away. "I say we start walking around the perimeter of the dig site and hope we run into the others."
She looked up from her bag and frowned. Wally was just smirking at her and she raised an eyebrow at him.
"What? I like how you take charge. It's very tough," he said, shrugging. "And it's a good plan, so let's get to it. Lead the way, legit agent lady."
She rolled her eyes and began walking. He followed after her, eyes drifting over the landscape around him. He had always wanted to visit a desert, though being almost blown up in one hadn't been on his desert to do list. He admired the surroundings as they made their way through the ever-growing blackness of the desert. They soon found themselves walking along side a cliff; both put on edge by the vulnerability this gave them.
They had been walking for what felt like an hour when they heard a noise. They looked at each other quickly and then around them for somewhere to hide. Frowning due to the lack of hiding places, they noticed the only place possible was around the corner of the cliff, which was where they had heard the sound. Wally gulped, hoping that this time it was in fact a hare.
It was better than a hare.
"Megan!" Artemis shouted, running towards the girl now coming in view. Kaldur walked around the corner next and Wally let out a sigh following after the blonde. "You guys are okay!"
"Yes, we managed to avoid injury in the blast. I hope both of you are without injury," Kaldur asked as the ginger clapped a hand on his shoulder.
"No more than what we arrived with," Wally answered. "Any sign of Dick and Conner?"
"No, we were hoping you guys had seen them," Megan said somberly as she let Artemis out of her hug. "We've been trying to find them, but we haven't been able to find anything to even try and track them."
"I take it that you both have been without luck of finding them," the taller boy said. The blonde shook her head and Kaldur sighed.
"We do have some good, well kind of good, news," Wally said. "We were watching the dig site for awhile and we saw some stuff."
"Luthor is here," Artemis continued, "and there's someone else doing business with him. We aren't sure who he was though."
"Can you give me a description?" Megan asked, pulling out a small tablet from her bag. "He could be in our database. Thank goodness I have that downloaded."
"He was really tall and sort of long dark brown hair. He definitely works out in his spare time. Oh, and he has a couple of scars across his face. Very scary," the ginger boy said, tracing on his own face where the scars were.
"Vandal Savage…" Kaldur whispered. They all turned to look at him, Megan lowering her tablet. Frowning, he continued, "His name is Vandal Savage. He is one of the more elite criminals the Agency has dealt with in the past. He has not been active in a few years now, or so we thought. The fact that he has resurfaced is troubling. What were Lex Luthor and he doing?"
"Mostly just talking. I couldn't make out what they were saying, their heads were turned away enough that I couldn't even try to read their lips," Artemis said. "Eventually this Savage guy gave Luthor a briefcase. We left after that to avoid staying out our welcome and to find you guys."
"That is troubling. The idea of Lex Luthor and Vandal Savage working together raises more alarms than is comfortable," Kaldur said, rubbing his temples. "We need to find the others and leave. While this mission has now been successful, it will not stay that way unless we can locate Dick and Conner."
"Well, Dick is going to be easy to find. Look," Wally said, pointing to the cliff side. The others looked up and grinned as they saw the youngest of their group rappelling down the side. They all rushed over as he unhooked himself for the line. "Way to show up late, Grayson."
"At least I arrived. Where's Conner?" Dick asked.
"We don't know yet," Megan said, the worry in her voice prominent. "He's okay though, right? Nothing bad has happened to him?"
"I'm sure he's off somewhere feeling the aster, Megs, don't worry," the youngest boy said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We'll find him and be out of here in no time. So, anyone see which way he ran?"
They all shook their heads and Dick frowned. Megan was starting to wring her hands until Kaldur gently placed his on them. Smiling weakly she stopped, though the boy left his hands in place.
"Okay, there are two options for what happened. Okay, there are three, but we'll just ignore the third. The first is Conner is in fact off somewhere hiding and the second is he got captured," Dick said, holding up two fingers.
"So, we go after him?" Wally asked, grinning. "Guns a-blazing?"
"Of course," the boy grinned back.
"This is going to be a mess, isn't it?" Artemis asked. She groaned when both boys' grins widened and high fived each other.
"Okay, so you two are going to just going to go in and grab him. Do not try and get justice for Conner. We know he's still in there, so just get him out. Once you do, break radio silence to tell us you're out and pray we all run out of here fast enough," Dick explained.
"Once the three of you are out of here, safely make your way back to the new rendezvous. Do not take any unnecessary risks, understood?" Kaldur asked. Both Megan and Artemis nodded, the blonde readjusting her quiver on her back. "Good. Be careful."
The blonde glanced at Wally quickly, offering a smile. He tried to return it but knew his face gave away his concern. Artemis looked like she was going to say something when the other girl tugged on her sleeve. Sighing, she grabbed her bow.
"You sure this is going to work, Dick?" Wally asked as he watched the two girls quickly run off from the tent they had all been hiding behind.
"No, but hey, we've done stupider things before that have worked out fine. And then when we do normal, average missions you get super injured, so you should be fine," Dick answered, grinning.
"I'm not worried about us," he muttered, staring at where the girls had been.
"She'll be fine, you know she can handle herself. Besides, we're the ones going to be getting all the attacks, we're charging in through the front doors," the black haired boy said.
"Are both of you ready?" Kaldur asked, looking around the edge of the tent. Dick pulled out his Eskrima sticks and Wally grabbed the long staff he nicked from the tent they were behind, both boys nodding. Kaldur nodded and began running out from their hiding spot. They followed, the ginger running to the left while the other boy to the right of their friend.
Quickly the boys found themselves under fire. Grateful for the fact he was quite the runner, Wally found it easy to avoid getting injured for once, though he wasn't having the luck his friends were having taking out the guards on the site. Quickly the ginger hide behind a stack of crates, catching his breath. He glanced around the crates trying to find an opening to draw the fire away from his friends. There around thirty guards, all armed and all firing at will. There was no sign of Lex Luthor or Vandal Savage, to which Wally was grateful for. That Vandal guy seemed like a piece of work.
"Come on girls, hurry up," he muttered under his breath as he began to make his way across the site. He grinned as he saw the opportunity to take out a guard heading towards the tent they knew Conner was in. Quickly knocking the guard out, Wally found himself back-to-back with his younger friend.
"How's it hanging, Wall-man?" Dick asked, panting slightly.
"Oh you know, same old same old. Not dying, driving people nuts" the ginger laughed. "How's it going on your end?"
"Also driving everyone I come into contact with crazy. It's almost like they've never dealt with a fairly acrobatic guy before," the boy said.
They laughed as they started running in opposite directions from each other. Wally was heading towards another pile of crates, hoping he could try and use it to his advantage.
Suddenly, guard charged at him and Wally dived to the ground and did a roll behind him. Jumping to his feet, the boy kicked the man in the back, a move he picked up from Artemis the week before. Grinning, he headed towards Kaldur. He whacked the person coming up behind his friend and offered a thumbs up to him. Nodding, the taller boy punched the man he was fighting before running off.
"We've got Conner, get out now!" Artemis' voice rang into all their ears. Wally jumped slightly, forgetting he had the earpiece in even though it was part of the plan.
He started towards a clearing between to tents. He ran as fast as he could as a guard began to follow him. In a second he turned around to knock the guard down before making his way out. Wally felt an energy pulsing through him. While he wasn't the most trained fighter, the excitement and adrenaline charging him was something he didn't think he would ever be able to give up.
When he finally made it to the rendezvous, the girls and Conner where already waiting. Conner was having his chest bandaged by Megan. He smiled weakly as the ginger ran up to them. He looked tired but seemed in good health. The ginger was accepting a water bottle from Artemis when Kaldur and Dick arrived.
"Conner, how are you feeling?" Kaldur asked, squatting next to him.
"I'll live," the boy grumbled. "I don't ever want to come to the desert again, but I'll live."
"I have to ask Conner, and I'm really sorry cause I just want to enjoy the fact you're alive, but did you tell them anything?" Dick asked. "We need to know."
"No, they didn't ask me anything. Luthor came in at one point to talk about Clark a bit, but he didn't ask anything at all about the Agency. He seemed to know a lot as it was. He kept bragging about how they had an informant or something," the injured boy explained. "I'm sorry I didn't get a name."
"No friend, you did well," Kaldur said, resting a hand on his shoulder. He then stood up and smiled at them. "Good work today, everyone. We have learned some things about Luthor's operation and we have all made it back."
"But an informant, dude that sounds serious," Wally said. "Don't you all get screened super hardcore before joining?"
"Yes, but this would not be the first time an agent has made mistakes. I would not stress about this too much," Kaldur answered. "The Agency will be informed. If there is indeed a mole, they'll find he or she."
"Come on guys, lighten up!" Dick said. "If there's a mole, they'll be dealt with. It's none of our business at this point. Can we just enjoy the fact none of us died today?"
"Yet, we still have to explain what happened to Bruce," Wally groaned. "He'll probably kill us."
"I'm sure he'll be proud of how we handled ourselves," Megan said as she helped Conner put his shirt back on. "And if not, Dinah will be able to help us argue with him."
"I'm just grateful we aren't sitting near him on the flight back," Artemis said.
"That would be worst than death," the ginger boy said. "Dick, please just let him know none of this was my fault. I do want to go over to your house again one day."
"I'm sorry, did you say blame everything on you? Deal," the boy said smirking. Wally yelled and took off after his friend, who was now running off towards their base camp.
Once they all got there, they were relieved to find out that Bruce was just grateful they were alive, though the agent did say he would go over the many flaws in the mission with them when they returned to Happy Habor. They soon piled into the jeep they had arrived in and all began to dose off as they began driving.
Artemis was sitting next to Wally and the boy soon felt her head fall onto his shoulder. He knew he should say something, especially with Dick grinning at him, but he was so exhausted he didn't care. Closing his eyes, he let his head fall and rest against hers, hoping she wouldn't be angry when they woke up. At the moment though, Wally just wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet between them.